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Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them (Jeremiah 7:25).
As you study the history of Israel, one of the most fascinating of all the characters of the Old Testament is that hardy group of individuals known as the prophets. These stern individualists arrived on the scenes of Israel’s frequent apostasies with fire in their eyes and God’s word on their lips. They came with a wide variety of backgrounds, looks, and personalities, but all possessed an extreme devotion to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and to the moral code He had given His people through His servant Moses.
One of the greatest mistakes churches and Christians have made is to ignore the writings of these men as ancient and irrelevant. No less an authority than Jesus Himself spoke reverently of the prophets, and declared "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). If Jesus believed in the validity of the prophets, we greatly err to neglect this wonderful source of blessing God has included in His word. Paul writes: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable …” (2 Timothy 3:16). To learn of the prophets, to read and understand their amazing writings, to let them feed your soul and enflame your spirit with a passion for the beauty and holiness of God, is profitable – it is good for you! With that in mind, let us take a look at the lives and ministries of the Old Testament prophets. Though they were each unique, we find a number of common features that characterized their lives and ministries.
A Sovereign Call
It is instructive to see that these men whose fearless words shook Israel to the core never asked for the roles they played in Israel’s history, at least not at the beginning. They did not choose to be prophets; they had not dreamed of prophetic ministries from childhood. They were pretty much minding their own business, walking quietly before God, when their lives were violently interrupted and forever altered by an experience with the living God that they neither sought nor expected.
Amos was a perfect example of this:
I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to My people Israel” (Amos 7:14,15).
Amos had been a common farmer when God showed up, commanded him to prophesy to His people, and anointed him with the Holy Spirit for ministry. Another prophet God surprised was the young man Jeremiah. Jeremiah describes his initial experience with the God of Israel:
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.'' Then said I: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.'' But the Lord said to me: "Do not say, `I am a youth,' for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak" (Jeremiah 1:4-7).
Young Jeremiah has serious reservations about his ability to speak for God, but God will not hear of it. He is told his youth makes no difference. When God calls and commands a man to ministry, human limitations mean nothing. The presence and anointing of God is sufficient.
In Isaiah’s case we have a rare example of a man who was indeed eager to minister but this was only after God had revealed Himself to him, and touched his lips with a coal from the divine fire to cleanse him. Once the cleansing has taken place, we read:
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?'' Then I said, "Here am I! Send me'' (Isaiah 6:8).
By this point Isaiah is eager for service. He has experienced the holiness of God and not only survived, but emerged cleaner than he has ever been in his life. This symbolic cleansing, by which the angel touches his lips with a coal, is surely representative of the ultimate cleansing Christians experience through the cross and the blood of Jesus. One of the surest sign of the new birth is a little three word prayer that virtually all Christians pray from their earliest days – “Lord, use me.” Once cleansed it seems positively criminal for us to sit around and merely enjoy our new relationship with our Heavenly Father. We must do something! Isaiah, now cleansed, is ready to preach to God’s unrepentant people.
In these, and every other case where the Bible describes the beginning of a prophetic ministry, we see that it all begins with God. Being a prophet is no profession to be logically chosen after weighing your options, evaluating your strengths and weaknesses, and analyzing the pros and cons. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, and all the others were prophets not because they wanted to be, but because God had called them with a calling that could hardly have been resisted. They had met God and their lives could never be the same again.
Notice the parallel between the prophets’ callings, and the way that the Lord draws us to Himself in the New Testament age. Anyone who knows Christ has come to that knowledge as a result of divine relation. We love Him because He first loved us. Paul was keenly aware that his turning to Christ was not a result of his own logical and brilliant mind:
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace… (Galatians 1:15).
What powerful words: “When it pleased God…” Yes, there is free will, yes, we have a responsibility to “choose this day whom you will serve,” (Joshua 24:15) and yes, we will be held responsible for the choices we make. Beyond all this, however, there is a mysterious element of the foreknowledge and sovereignty of God that cannot be discounted. We read, “whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely,” (Revelation 22:17) but we also read, “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Romans 9:18). The same Bible that commands us to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ also declares, “And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).
So it was with the prophets of Israel. These men were not on missions of their own choosing, nor were they speaking their own words or building their own ministries. They belonged to the sovereign God of Israel, the One who ordained them before their birth. The words they spoke, both the encouraging and condemning, were straight from the heart of God.
Gifted to Hear
The prophets were Spirit-filled men. They were anointed with the Holy Spirit to preach, to pray, and to sometimes perform great miracles. Yet their greatest gift was not in the miracles or the preaching; it was in the hearing. The prophets were men with a very acute sense of hearing. They had such good hearing they sometimes heard the voice of God.
They didn’t start out that way. They were born with normal hearing, just like everyone else. But at some point in their lives their ears were opened, and hearing the voice of God became a regular part of their experience. This happened at the sole discretion of God; the gift was given not as a result of them begging God for such a gift, nor due to their long fasting and praying. The One who distributes gifts “according to His own will” (Hebrews 2:4) opened their ears and forever changed their lives.
Samuel experienced this early in his life. The Bible says of him in his youth, “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him” (1 Samuel 3:7). This was the normal state for any child of his age. But this didn’t last long. While he was most likely still a pre-teen, God called him for service, and the Scriptures tell us, “For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 3:21).
We have already described Jeremiah’s initial experience with the Lord, and how he attempted to beg off God’s calling by reason of his youth. God wouldn’t hear of it, and from that time forth Jeremiah, too, began to hear God’s voice. Many years later Jeremiah speaks of his years hearing God’s voice:
From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you… (Jeremiah 25:3).
This statement is quite enlightening. Jeremiah knew exactly how long he had been hearing God’s voice. It wasn’t twenty-two years, it wasn’t twenty-four years; it was precisely twenty-three years. Jeremiah no doubt divided his life neatly into two categories: those years when he didn’t hear the voice of the Lord and those years in which he did.
This gift to hear was of inestimable value to these men. They were often called to preach extremely unpopular messages to extremely powerful men. Their lives were constantly in jeopardy. If they had any doubt whatsoever as to the source of their message, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to compromise or dilute it. But they heard so plainly, so absolutely distinctly that they dare not and could not do less than preach it exactly as given. “Thus saith the Lord” was frequently the introduction to the fearless prophetic declarations that they gave. Not “I think the Lord may be saying” as we so often say, or “See if this registers with your spirit,” but “Here’s what God says!”
At one point during the days Israel was being conquered by Babylon, a group of Israelites came to Jeremiah wanting a word from God. They had it in their mind to escape to Egypt, but were eager to have Jeremiah confirm their plan. Jeremiah agreed to seek the Lord for a word for them. A day passed and he heard nothing. Another day passed and still nothing. Day after day passed while the people no doubt became restless and frustrated as Jeremiah would meet with them and declare, “God hasn’t said anything.” Finally after ten days, God speaks, but the message is far from what the people wanted to hear. God tells them that they must not go to Egypt, but remain in Israel and He will protect them. The people charge Jeremiah with being a false prophet and head for Egypt anyway.
Had Jeremiah been a false prophet he surely would not have had to wait ten days to come up with a message. He could have thought of all kinds of “prophecies” in a couple of days, messages that would surely have met with a warmer reception. But Jeremiah was accustomed to hearing the voice of God, and wasn't about to substitute his own imagination for the forceful and sure word of God. He waited and waited and waited … and finally God spoke. Jeremiah delivered the message. Though it wasn’t heeded, he had done his job faithfully. He had waited, he had heard, and he had shared the message as given.
To hear the word of the Lord is an incredible blessing but it is likewise a great burden. The man or woman who hears God’s voice is bound to obey it, and it is not always the message they would like to hear. While today we do not hear God’s voice in the same manner and consistency of the Old Testament prophets, we can indeed hear from Him. Jesus promised, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
When we do hear God’s voice it is not always the word we want to hear – but it is always the word we need to hear. It is a privilege, but it brings responsibility as nothing else does. Once we have heard His voice, we must obey or be in direct violation of His will.
The prophets of Israel heard God’s voice in a way we almost never do. It must have brought tremendous faith, knowing that the words they were speaking and the counsel they were giving had come directly from the mouth of God. Yet the gift forced them to live lives that were not their own. Because they lived by thoughts that were not man’s thoughts and ways that were not man’s ways, they were often considered odd, even crazy. It didn’t do much for their social life, and it didn’t always help them to “win friends and influence people”. Indeed, Isaiah was told that his ministry would not lead Israel to repentance but to judgment:
Then I said, "Lord, how long?'' And He answered: "Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate…” (Isaiah 6:11)
Supernaturally Inspired
We have referred previously to this aspect of their ministries, but we would do well to look a little deeper at the amazing dimension of supernatural inspiration these men experienced. I am a preacher. I have been preaching for about 24 years at the time of this writing, and could not begin to tell you how many sermons and teachings I have given. I have preached good sermons, bad sermons, powerful sermons, boring sermons, funny sermons, dry sermons, and everything in between.
Early in my ministry I began to notice a mysterious element to my preaching that sometimes seemed to appear without warning or reason. I found that at times I preached far more powerfully and eloquently than at other times. I could even sense certain physical sensations as I preached when this element was present. After a while I concluded that this was what the Bible refers to as “the anointing of the Holy Spirit.” I found that this anointing made preaching a pleasure. Time flew when this anointing was on me. People seemed more interested in what I was saying. My abilities as a speaker were wonderfully enhanced.
Sadly I found that I could not manufacture this condition. I never knew until I began to preach the measure of this anointing that I would experience. I preached some sermons where this anointing seemed utterly absent. (Sometimes afterward a sweet little old lady would come up to me and tell me how much I had blessed her. I would look at her and think, “Woman, have you no discernment at all?”)
It has been one of my life’s great quests to achieve consistency in this area. I have found a number of keys, but the fact remains that I still never know until afterwards just how strong this anointing will be when I preach or teach. What I am describing is the same thing these prophets experienced, but with a major difference. With the prophets, their inspiration, both to hear and to speak, was such that their words were 100 percent reliable. In my case, even on the best of days, there was still a measure of my humanity mingled with God’s Spirit. It was never all of God and none of Dennis. It was usually some of God and some of Dennis. For this reason my hearers always needed (and this is true of every preacher today) to test my words with the Bible, and not merely to passively accept all I had to say.
The prophets of Israel experienced an anointing, but one of a degree to which those of us who preach today have never known. It was a supernatural inspiration of the Holy Spirit that was so strong that it was all of God and none of them. It is true that these men left their own individual “flavors” on their messages, but this did not alter the divine perfection that marked their utterances.
Isaiah writes:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound… (Isaiah 61:1).
These words are associated in our minds with the Lord Jesus, since He quoted them at the beginning of His ministry, but keep in mind that they were Isaiah’s first, and no doubt Isaiah was speaking of his own personal experience as well as prophesying of the One to come. Isaiah knew what it was to minister with the Spirit of God upon him. Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of these words, of course. And amazingly, Jesus told His disciples that they too, would experience the Spirit of the Lord coming upon them:
You shall receive power, after the Spirit of the Lord has come upon you… (Acts 1:8).
Micah was a Spirit-filled prophet who knew that incredible experience of the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit as he proclaimed God’s message to Israel. He acknowledged that his message was not his own, saying:
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin (Micah 3:8).
Jeremiah spoke of the tremendous driving force of this inner resource, a power that was so insistent it could never let him keep silent:
Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.'' But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not (Jeremiah 20:9).
These men were not only anointed; they knew that they were anointed! They knew that the gift given to them was of God, and that they must yield to that power and proclaim God’s message. The words they spoke and the actions they undertook at the mouth of the Lord were God’s words and God’s actions.
Jesus respected the authority of the prophets and affirmed their supernatural inspiration. Liberal Christians today often like to say that we must not take their every word as coming from God, yet Jesus Himself most certainly did. He stated:
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).
After His resurrection Jesus appeared on the road to Emmaus to two disciples, and when they didn’t seem ready to believe that the resurrection had actually occurred, He told them:
O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! (Luke 24:25).
How silly we are, in our pretensions of sophistication and erudition, while we deny that which our Lord so readily accepted – that the prophets of Israel were supernaturally endowed by God to communicate His truth to His people and indeed to the whole world.
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is a mysterious experience that cannot be explained or analyzed. Those who have never experienced it can hardly imagine it. Those who have can hardly define it. Suffice it to say that the Holy Spirit, the eternal, sovereign Third Person of the Trinity, gives gifts to those whom He will and moves at His own discretion. These prophets of Israel were a tiny minority of all the people who have ever lived on this planet who heard the voice of the Lord unmistakably, and proclaimed it flawlessly. This familiarity with the divine made them appear eccentric in the eyes of nearly everyone else around them. It did not gain them favor in their lifetimes, but as time went by, their words and fragments of their life stories were preserved, and passed from generation to generation. In most respects they were as human and weak as everyone else, but from time to time throughout their lives, they experienced the Spirit of the Lord coming upon them, and they rose from their humanity to become the voice of deity.
A Lonely Breed
Because the prophets were so different in many respects, from the common men of their day, they found few friends in whom they could share their burdens. Jeremiah wrote:
Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand… (Jeremiah 15:16,17)
“I sat alone because of Your hand…” Those words sum up the blessing and the curse of the prophetic ministry. Few men have ever been so blessed, and yet few men so often desolate. These were not “party animals,” nor were they written up in the society columns. They were considered far too austere, too blunt, and definitely too unabashedly religious to fit in with the local culture. They had the audacity to be more kingdom minded than patriotic. They dared suggest that God might be bigger than Israel, and that He would even judge Israel by using their pagan, cruel neighbors. These men were so individualistic they just never seemed to fit in. They went their own way, did their own thing, and had little use for the “God values us too much to ever let anything bad happen to us” philosophy that prevailed among most of the Jews.
Elijah was another prophet who suffered the pangs of loneliness. He told the Lord: “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts…” (1 Kings 19:10).
Elijah had preached and prayed, proclaimed and rebuked with all he had, and by the powerful assistance of the Spirit of God, who moved in him so mightily, and yet felt his ministry had been of little avail. Beyond his perceived failure was the thought that “I alone am left…” While God assured him that He had reserved 7000 others who had not bowed the knee to Baal, these others were evidently pretty carefully hidden, and Elijah exercised much of his ministry as a man alone.
John the Baptist lived a lonely life in the wilderness as the God of Israel spent 30 years training and disciplining this fiercely independent, passionate prophet-to-be. As with most of God’s favored servants, John must pay the expensive tuition of loneliness in order to attend God’s Wilderness University. It is written of John:
So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel (Luke 1:80).
God is not against socializing, nor does He take particular pleasure in the loneliness of His children. In truth He created men and women as social creatures, and has always dealt with His people as a community of God. Nevertheless those who would hear God’s voice and become fine instruments in His hands are going to discover that there are indispensable lessons that can never be learned in the noise and clamor of many voices and multiplied opinions. While the end result of ministry will always lead one to the masses of humanity, the foundations of Holy Spirit charged ministry will be found in the lonely places where quietness of surroundings and emotions heightens the spiritual senses, and creates the hearing heart.
Paul had his solitary time in the deserts of Arabia, Moses, his at the back of the desert. David learned of God as a lonely shepherd, and during his seasons in the wilds of Engedi. Even our Lord was moved by the Spirit to go into the wilderness before He was anointed for public ministry. Before that He had spent a remarkably quiet thirty years, probably in the carpenter’s shop, before He ever appeared before the masses.
In today’s busy world, few of us are going to have the privilege to spend time in a genuine wilderness, but we can set aside quality time to walk with God and give ourselves to knowing Him through His word and through prayer. Television programs, job pressures, social functions, and the Internet all vie for our time, but if we are serious in our desire for God to put His hand on our lives, and impart an anointing for service, we will pay the price and make the time.
Although I am no prophet, I do know what it is to learn of God in the wilderness. My particular Wilderness University was in a small town with the unlikely name of Louisiana (MO), a tiny little burg about thirty miles south of Hannibal located on the banks of the Mississippi River. I began to lead a Bible study there as a twenty-five year old elementary school teacher. Before long we began to think of ourselves as a church, and I found myself in the role of pastor. The church grew fairly quickly at the beginning (we started with eight people), and before too long I was able to resign my teaching job and enter the world of full time ministry. I loved it, and set about the business of building the world’s greatest church. Of course that never quite happened.
As a matter of fact the church never got much above a Sunday morning attendance of eighty. For about seven years total and five years full time, I served as pastor of a small congregation in this quaint little town, hidden neatly away from the rest of the world.
The church was large enough to support me full time but so small that there wasn’t a great demand upon my time. There was little counseling to do, almost no committees, and few major problems. Often I would go to my office with an entire day to set my own agenda. For many it would have been a case of too much time and too little to do, but for me it was perfect.
This was my “Wilderness U.” I read the Bible in huge chunks at a time, prayed constantly, fasted frequently, and devoured biographies of some of the greatest evangelists and revivalists in the history of the church. My heart burned with desire as I imbibed huge gulps of God’s presence and church history. I quickly began a one man campaign to turn our church into a combination Wesley/Moody/Finney revival.
It didn’t happen, but we did see the Lord give us some rich demonstrations of His power and presence, and I began experiencing that quickening of the Spirit that I depend upon so much today in my teaching, preaching, writing, and every other form of ministry that I do. The Holy Spirit was introducing Himself to me, and calling me to a life of dependence upon Him.
All who would have God to use them to the fullest will have their own uniquely created time of wilderness with God, where they will learn His ways and His voice.
There is one other aspect of the prophetic character that makes them “sit alone.” They are simply too passionate to fit in with ordinary men and ordinary conversations. Their obsession with God and the things of God gives them little time for the more normal activities of life. The passion that is their greatest strength makes it virtually impossible for them to fit in with their more ordinary neighbors. The pace that they keep and the rarified atmosphere in which they live is beyond the experience of most men. Few can match their strides for long, or live at their level. These men did not need to try to separate themselves from humanity; the life they lived made separation inevitable.
Not all of God’s people will manifest this particular characteristic at the highest level. The prophets were extremists; it could not be otherwise. It was part of the job description.
Concerned with Morality
The prophets have been called God’s troubleshooters. When Israel was walking with God, and living righteously, you didn’t hear much from them. It was usually in times of moral declension that these men would be raised up to proclaim a fiery message of repentance and the impending judgment of a holy God. Because of this, the prophets were always intensely concerned with moral issues. Their preaching was often as much a rebuking of current practices as it was a foretelling of things to come. They were concerned over some of the most basic moral issues: the feeding of the hungry, justice for the oppressed, single-minded devotion to Yahweh, and observance of the Sabbath. Isaiah typifies this moral vehemence, as he rebukes Israel for their being so caught up with the religious practice of fasting, while they neglect some of the most fundamental elements of God’s moral law:
Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? (Isaiah 58:6).
John the Baptist was a prophet called of God to announce the coming of the Messiah, but he was also a powerful proclaimer of righteousness, and rebuker of the wicked. John no doubt realized that it isn’t the safest thing in the world to rebuke leading political officials, but he couldn’t help but comment on King Herod’s scandalous marriage to his sister in law:
For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18).
Notice the word “lawful.” John had no reticence to publicly insist upon lawful behavior. He didn’t debate, as some do today, whether there is even such a thing as right or wrong; he didn’t couch his preaching in delicate and politically correct terms. He simply told Herod, “What you are doing is wrong.”
Ted Koppel is not known for being an evangelical Christian, but even this liberal reporter had enough moral savvy to state what should be obvious to all:
We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us: 'Shoot up if you must, but use a clean needle.' 'Have sex whenever and with whomever you wish, but wear a condom.' "No! The answer is 'No!' Not because it isn't 'cool' or 'smart', or because you might end up in jail or dying in an AIDS ward; but 'No!' because it's wrong…
What a novel idea! Don’t do it because it is wrong. In today’s ultra-pragmatic world, this may sound antiquated, but this is the Bibles’ message. Jesus Himself said, “The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates, because I testify of it, that its works are evil” (John 7:7).
The gospel and morality are not opposed to each other! Many think that morality is no longer in vogue since the cross. God used to be concerned about how we behaved, but now the cross has enabled us to live as we will, knowing that we are merely “sinners saved by grace.” We are not sinners saved by grace. Paul never writes to the “sinners at Ephesus” or to the “sinners at Corinth.” He writes to the saints, which means “holy ones.” God has not given up on holiness. John writes that “No one who is born of God will continue to sin” (1 John 3:9). The Bible tells us that everyone who names the name of Christ is to depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2:19). Paul tells us that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
We live in a society that has not only broken God’s holy boundaries for human behavior, but is now denying that such boundaries ever existed.
We invent new words to take away the stigma from words and concepts that seem to be morally judgmental. A prostitute is now called a “sex worker” in major magazines. Adultery is given the much more palatable label of affair (“Don’t call me an adulterer, dear. I just had a small affair!”). Drunkards are alcoholics and have no moral problems; they are merely afflicted by a genetic disease. Anyone who seems to have a moral problems is said to be addicted to something or other, thereby relieving them of any moral responsibility.
The prophets never saw it that way. To these morally indignant firebrands, there were no gray areas. Right was right and wrong was wrong. If you broke the laws of God you were a lawbreaker in desperate need of repentance. It wasn’t your momma’s fault, there was no need to look up an expensive therapist to help you with your “addictions.” Just repent of your wickedness, turn away from your rebellion, and live as God commands you.
Sometimes Depressed
It is surprising and perhaps a little gratifying for us to learn that the prophets experienced depression even in the midst of their powerful and Spirit-filled ministries. We read of Elijah:
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 19:4).
What makes this outburst particularly fascinating is that it comes on the heels of one of Elijah’s greatest triumphs. He has just been to the mountain where he called down fire from heaven, turned the hearts of many from Baal to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and had the priests of Baal slaughtered. Just after this incredible display of the power of God, the king’s wife, Jezebel, threatens Elijah’s life, and Elijah runs into the wilderness like a scared rabbit, and wishes to die. (Of course had he really wanted to die, he could have merely presented himself to Jezebel, and she would have gladly done him the favor.)
Paul writes, “We have this treasure in earthly vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). There is a bizarre dichotomy that has always existed among those whose lives have had the hand of God upon them. Under the powerful inspiration and empowerment of the Spirit these men and women were capable of tremendous feats of bravery and faith, and achieved results that could only be explained by the divine touch upon them. Yet in other circumstances, when left to their own humanity, these same individuals have displayed cowardice, insecurity, self-pity, and deep and dark depression. When onlookers see only their spiritual side, they are often tempted to think that they have no other side; that they are always in that anointed mode of being God’s man of faith and power. What they fail to see is the surging nature of the Spirit-filled life.
The power of the Spirit is never constant in one’s life. We know this must be true for it is said of Peter and Paul at times that they, “filled with the Spirit,” did or said such and such. Had they always and continually been filled with the Spirit such terminology would be meaningless. The clear implication is that they were not continually filled with the Spirit, but became so for particular tasks and at particular times.
It is at the times that the power of the Spirit ebbs that their more human and weaker nature emerges and we find that they are as capable of fear, self-pity, and depression as anyone (indeed often more so!).
Charles Spurgeon was considered to be one of the finest preachers in the history of the Christian church. His brilliant mind, passionate heart, and impeccable delivery attracted people by the thousands to his church in London during the latter half of the 1800’s. Conversions were so frequent that he once showed a visitor the six thousand seat sanctuary where he proclaimed the gospel of Christ, and said that he guessed there wasn’t a seat in the house where someone hadn’t found Christ at one time or another. His services were so crowded that people had to obtain tickets in advance to be assured a seat. Even today his written sermons are a blessing to tens of thousands of Christians.
Spurgeon was a Biblical expositor par extraordinaire. His grasp of the word of God was masterful. We might expect that such a man as this would live on a continual spiritual high, but we would be wrong. One of the banes of this godly man’s life was a constant battle with depression. This same man who knew such spiritual highs and preached under such divine inspiration, whose sermons brought salvation and joy to tens of thousands, frequently experienced dark and savage depression that he could never permanently shake.
Why must this be? Was this a chemical problem? Was it God’s thorn in the flesh? We will never know; indeed I’m sure Spurgeon never knew himself. But he was a perfect example of that which is the case for every prophet, apostle, or any other who carries the divine treasure in their earthen vessel.
The author of Pilgrim’s Progress, spiritually sensitive John Bunyan, suffered frequently from depression and often had doubts as to his own salvation. Jonathan Edwards’ friend and celebrated missionary to the Indians, David Brainerd, was powerfully used by God to bring spiritual awakening to the native Americans, yet was so moody and introspective that he could never maintain his joy for very long.
A more modern example would be the ever controversial healing evangelist, Kathryn Kuhlman. Kathryn lived in a dimension that few have ever approached, particularly in her last twenty years. When she ministered in a healing service, things happened that were never seen anywhere else. While she constantly maintained, “I have nothing to do with these miracles,” it was hard to explain why they happened when she was ministering, and didn’t happen otherwise.
Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit Kathryn seemed like a superwoman. She was authoritative, dynamic, and absolutely sure of herself. Yet when the night was over and the lights were turned out, super-Kathryn turned into just plain Kathryn. She was insecure, difficult to work with, and often a very poor judge of character, hiring and trusting certain individuals that proved disastrous.
It has always been this way. The Old Testament prophets were no exceptions. Under God’s inspiration they seemed fearless and invincible, but when the anointing lifted it was clear that they were as any other man in their foibles and weaknesses. Jeremiah is honored as one of Israel’s greatest prophets, yet even he cried mournfully:
Cursed be the day in which I was born! Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame? (Jeremiah 20:14,18)
This human quality of the prophets is perhaps best summed up in the simple words of James: “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…” (James 5:17). Elijah was one of us!
There is great significance to this simple truth. We learn that ministry is not a matter of attaining such a high spiritual state that we walk on air and maintain a detached demeanor which is so otherworldly we cannot be recognized as real people. God uses real people to accomplish his purposes, and He does not require an angelic perfection before He begins This is certainly no excuse for us to walk in willful disobedience, but it is an encouraging thought to realize that in all of our humanness, even in our times of depression or discouragement, God can still make excellent use of us as His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
These prophets who heard God’s voice so clearly and proclaimed His words so fearlessly were not detached men of robotic demeanor and impervious temperament. They lost their temper, sank into occasional deep depression, worried about their own safety, and resented their persecutors, just as any of us would do, and sometimes more so. They thought deeply, felt passionately, and hurt intensely. God does not expect His servants to check their humanity in at the door when they enter His service. And it is that humanity, combined with the unmistakable touch of divinity, that makes them so compelling.
Ultimately Vindicated
In the end, the most clearly defining aspect of the prophets was that they were ultimately vindicated. Their threats were not idle threats; their predictions of national collapse were fulfilled to the letter. God told Ezekiel:
And when this comes to pass - surely it will come - then they will know that a prophet has been among them (Ezekiel 33:33).
Many false prophets tried their hand at the prophetic game and achieved a short-lived fame, but sooner or later their prophecies caught up with them. They had prophesied out of their own minds, and the results proved it. The true prophets were never wrong. They may have griped, they may have been moody, but when they opened their mouths with a fiery, “Thus saith the Lord,” you could take what they said to the bank. They simply never missed. The level of their inspiration carried them into that rarified atmosphere that few have ever known. Their words didn’t just contain a little truth mixed with a large dose of human error; they were truth itself.
Fast Forward
It is different today. There is no preacher, no saint, and no Pope whose word can be received fully without the need for discernment and comparison against God’s written word. The best of preachers can find things in every sermon that should have been said differently, or would have been better left out. There are, indeed, certain Christians that seem to hear God’s voice a little more clearly than the rest of us, but even they will admit that it is never perfect. There is always the need to sort out the human from the divine, the voice of our mind and our flesh from the voice of God.
Our world is filled with all kinds of voices and opinions. Our newspapers carry editorials every day that purport to be the voice of reason. Conservatives and liberals, Democrats and Republicans, religious zealots of every persuasion, atheists and skeptics … all eagerly spout tons of verbiage from their wells of wisdom.
Peter exhorts believers: “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). It is not our voice or our ideas that the world needs. It is God’s voice and His thoughts. The prophetic voice is the conscience of the nation. Jesus tells us that we are to be the “salt of the earth,” and the “light of the world.” A vital part of being salt and light to our world is to boldly declare what God has to say – about everything. God’s word covers a great deal of territory, and our world will be filled with moral illiterates if we, the people of God, refuse to boldly proclaim God’s word to our generation.
As with the prophets of old, we are called to testify to the truth; not necessarily to succeed in converting them all to our way of thinking. Donald Wildmon is the Mississippi preacher who took on the American media over twenty-five years ago. He has tirelessly worked for decency in media ever since, calling on Christians to boycott companies that sponsor filthy television programs, taking large corporations to task for their immoral policies, and alerting to Christians to the continuing moral downward spiral of America.
Once Wildmon was asked why he continued to attempt to promote righteousness in media, when the media was clearly far more immoral now than when he began over two decades ago. Wildmon’s answer could easily have been Jeremiah’s or Ezekiel’s, had they been asked the same thing: “God never called me to succeed; He simply called me to stand for righteousness.”
The church must never loser her prophetic edge. There is a dangerous deception that has been swallowed by many, that suggests that only all-positive, bland, generic, fluff messages will draw and keep people in church. In their lust for church growth many evangelical pastors have ceased preaching messages with a healthy dose of moral fiber. “God thinks you’re great and wants to help you solve your problems” is the common theme behind every sermon in thousands of pulpits Sunday after Sunday and year after year. Fed on a continual diet of spiritual Pabulum, the pastors wonder why their people have no heart for intercession or evangelism, and still struggle with sins that should have been overcome in their first few months as Christians.
In truth, pastors who speak quite forcefully on moral issues can easily attract faithful congregations, as James Kennedy, John MacArthur, and Charles Stanley can attest. A strong moral vein in preaching can be most attractive and extremely relevant, when it is presented in the power and fluency of the Holy Spirit. People even get saved under such teaching and preaching! Cotton candy may be a nice treat once in a while, but who would want to live on it, morning, noon, and night. After a few days of such a diet, we would all scream out: “Give me a steak and some vegetables! Enough of this horrid empty sugar!”
More Than Law
The prophets not only spoke of sin, righteousness, and judgment; they also proclaimed the Messiah! By the time Jesus made His appearance upon the stage of Israel, every Jew eagerly expected Messiah to redeem Israel. They weren’t always so sure just what would be the nature of that redemption, but they knew redemption was coming. They knew this because the prophets had foretold it.
Isaiah writes:
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
A great King, the essence of all that is good and powerful, and who would be “the Mighty God” was to come. He was given “unto us” (i.e. unto the Jewish people). Daniel, too, saw a glimpse of this mysterious figure, and exulted:
I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13,14).
During “the night visions” (apparently a combination of vivid dream and vision) Daniel saw a “son of man” who was to receive an everlasting kingdom from the Ancient of Days. These, and other messianic passages were woven inexorably into the messages of repentance and righteousness that made up the essence of prophetic writings. They dealt with the present, but always pointed to the future, encouraging God’s chosen people that, regardless of their present rebellions and the divine disfavor that may have rested upon them, God would one day bring them to a place of redemption and restoration. Messiah would come, and all the world would be brought under His righteous rule of the rod of iron. This was Israel’s hope; this was her ultimate destiny, and no amount of present day difficulties could ever diminish that destiny.
Like the prophets of old, we, too, must proclaim the first and second comings of Messiah. While we must declare God’s moral law, we can never stop at that. The sinner must hear about the unlawlfulness of his lifestyle, but he must also hear the good news of Jesus’ first appearing to pay the penalty for his forgiveness. A man who never hears the moral law will never see his need for a Savior; a man who never hears about the Savior may see his need, but will never find the answer to that need.
There is another appearing of Jesus that both sinner are Christian must hear of – His glorious second coming. The Old Testament prophets actually wrote more of Jesus’ second coming than they did of His first. Ezekiel and Jeremiah waxed eloquently of the restoration of the Jews, Isaiah spoke at length of Jesus’ millennial reign, Zechariah of His fiery appearance on the Mount of Olives. Even in the Psalms we read of the glory of this return:
Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth (Psalms 96:11-13).
If the Old Testament prophets, separated from Jesus’ second coming by thousands of years, could look forward so passionately to this Day, how much more should we are have entered into the New Covenant, and live so near to His appearing, eagerly look for, and talk much of His return? The strange silence in the pulpits concerning this vital subject is more than unfortunate; it is criminal! Even if we should be totally off the mark, and Christ’s return still be a thousand years away, it would be right to speak of, think of, preach about, and make much of the glory of Jesus’ return. If Isaiah and David and Daniel could find inspiration and comfort from the knowledge that Messiah will come and institute a reign of righteousness in our sin-wearied planet, how much more should we joyfully anticipate the coming of our Lord!
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